June 15, 1962: The Port Huron Statement

June 15, 1962: The Port Huron Statement is released, by the Students for a Democratic Society. Inspired by the labor movement, it was written at a United Auto Workers retreat outside of Port Huron, Michigan.

The Statement was a broad critique of the political and social system of the United States for failing to achieve international peace and economic justice. In foreign policy, the statement took issue with the American government's handling of the Cold War, both the existential threat of nuclear war, and the actual arms race.

In domestic matters, it criticized racial discrimination, economic inequality, big businesses, trade unions, and political parties. In addition to its critique and analysis of the American system, the statement also suggested a series of reforms: It proclaimed a need to reshape into two genuine political parties to attain greater democracy, for stronger power for individuals through citizen's lobbies, for more substantial involvement by workers in business management, and for an enlarged public sector with increased government welfare, including a "program against poverty."

The document provided ideas of what and how to work for and to improve, and also advocated nonviolent civil disobedience as the means by which student youth could bring forth the concept of "participatory democracy."

The statement also presented SDS's break from the mainstream liberal policies of the postwar years. It was written to reflect their view that all problems in every area were linked to each other. The authors, including future "Chicago Eight" member Tom Hayden, hoped that the movement would not get sidetracked on single-issue struggles but would stay focused on the broader struggles on all fronts at the same time.

Tom Hayden, 1962

The statement expressed SDS's willingness to work with groups whatever their political inclination. In doing so, they sought the rejection of the extant anti-communism of the time. In the concurrent Cold War environment, such a statement of inclusion for the heretofore "evil" Communist ideology, and by extension, socialist concepts, was definitely seen as a new, radical view contrasting with the position of much of the traditional American Left. The latter had developed a largely anti-communist orthodoxy in the wake of the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings of the 1940s and the Army-McCarthy hearings of 1954.

Without being Marxist or pro-communism, the Port Huron conference denounced anti-communism as being a social problem and an obstruction to democracy. They also criticized the United States for its exaggerated paranoia and exclusive condemnation of the Soviet Union, and blamed this for being the reason for failing to achieve disarmament and to assure peace.

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June 15, 1962 was a Friday. These baseball games were played on that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 3-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Jim "Mudcat" Grant pitched a 5-hit shutout, outpitching Ralph Terry, who nonetheless went on to win the Cy Young Award that season. Al Luplow hit a home run for Cleveland. Mickey Mantle was injured, and did not play.

* The New York Mets lost to the Chicago Cubs, 5-1 at the Polo Grounds. Ernie Banks hit a home run off Roger Craig.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds, 13-8 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Frank Robinson went 3-for-5 with an RBI, but Tony Gonzalez and Roy Sievers homered for the Fightin' Phils.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Senators, 8-3 at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington. (It was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 1969.) Brooks Robinson went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Milt Pappas hit a home run to help his own cause.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Braves, 9-8 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente hit a home run. So did Hank Aaron, and another Brave, Mack Jones.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-0 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Gene Conley pitched a 6-hit shutout. Al Kaline did not play. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels, 7-6 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-1 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. The only Twin run came on a home run by Harmon Killebrew.

* The Houston Colt .45s beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Jim Golden pitched a 5-hit shutout to beat Don Drysdale. The Colts were renamed the Houston Astros in 1965.

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Stan Musial did not play. Willie Mays did, and went 2-for-3 with a walk.

March 6, 1970: The Weather Underground Blow Themselves Up

March 6, 1970: Weather Underground members Diana Oughton, Ted Gold, Terry Robbins, Cathy Wilkerson, and Kathy Boudin are making bombs in a townhouse at 18 West 11th Street, in Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan, when one detonates. Oughton, Gold, and Robbins are killed. Wilkerson and Boudin escaped unharmed.

The Weather Underground had previously been known as the Weathermen, for a line in Bob Dylan's song "Subterranean Homesick Blues": "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." They were a radical offshoot of Students for a Democratic Society.

They were making the bombs in order to kill U.S. Army soldiers and non-commissioned officers who would be attending an NCO dance at Fort Dix in Pemberton, New Jersey; and to randomly kill people in Butler Library at Columbia University, uptown. An FBI report stated that they had enough explosives to "level… both sides of the street." Fortunately, they were so incompetent, they never killed anybody but themselves.

Oughton was 28 years old. Gold and Robbins were 22. Wilkerson went on the run, finally surrendering in 1980, making a deal, and served 11 months in prison. Boudin remained at large until 1981, when she was arrested for her role in a Brink's armored car robbery in Nyack, New York, and served 22 years. She later taught at, of all places, Columbia. As of March 6, 2022, Wilkerson and Boudin are still alive. (UPDATE: Boudin died on May 1, 2022.)

It was Bernardine Dohrn who explained that the murder of Black Panther Fred Hampton, a few months earlier, had moved the Weather Underground to more radical action: "We felt that the murder of Fred required us to be more grave, more serious, more determined to raise the stakes and not just be the white people who wrung their hands when black people were being murdered."

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March 6, 1970 was a Friday.  Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 6 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the San Diego Rockets, 107-103 at Madison Square Garden. Dave DeBusschere led the champions-to-be by 30 points. Elvin Hayes had 33 points and 29 rebounds in a loss.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Boston Celtics, 150-134 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. In spite of the high score, the leading scorer in the game was Hal Greer of the Sixers with 30 points.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Detroit Pistons, 121-118 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 38 points. Dave Bing scored 42 in defeat.

* The Baltimore Bullets beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 105-100 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Jerry West scored 35 for the Lakers.

* The San Francisco Warriors beat the Phoenix Suns, 107-97 at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium (now named for music promoter Bill Graham).

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Cincinnati Royals, 126-122 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 4 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets beat the Pittsburgh Pipers, 104-103 at the Island Garden in Hempstead, New York.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Miami Floridians, 119-116 at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis. For the Pacers, Roger Brown had 31 points, and Mel Daniels had 18 points and 33 rebounds. For the Floridians, Donnie Freeman had 35 points.

* The Carolina Cougars beat the Dallas Chaparrals, 98-94 at the Moody Coliseum in Dallas.

* And the Los Angeles Stars beat the Kentucky Colonels, 126-106 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

There were 2 games in the NHL. The New York Rangers lost to the St. Louis Blues, 3-1 at the St. Louis Arena. And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Oakland Seals, 3-2 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.